Data
- March 2014

The Start of a NYC Manufacturing Revival?

This data analysis shows that New York City's manufacturing sector is finally showing signs of strength. The city lost at least 5,000 manufacturing jobs every year from 1997 to 2010, but over the past three years employment in the sector has held steady, with job totals in 2013 the same as in 2010.

Between 1997 and 2010, the number of manufacturing jobs in New York City declined from 201,200 to 76,300—a loss of 124,900 positions, or 62 percent. The city lost at least 5,000 manufacturing jobs every year during this period.

But since 2010, the city’s manufacturing sector has stopped shedding jobs. At the end of 2013, New York City was home to 76,300 manufacturing jobs, the same total as 2010. And employment in the sector is actually up by 600 jobs since 2011.

Manufacturing has hardly become a major growth engine for New York’s economy. Between 2010 and 2013, when manufacturing employment was flat, the city added 271,000 private sector jobs overall—an 8.6 percent increase. But at a time when so many New Yorkers are struggling to access decent paying jobs, the manufacturing sector’s holding pattern over the past three years is an important development and encouraging for the future.

NYC MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT, 1997-2013

Year

Jobs
(in thousands)

Change from prior year
(in thousands)

% change
from prior year

1997

201.2

1998

195.9

-5.3

-2.63%

1999

186.8

-9.1

-4.65%

2000

176.8

-10.0

-5.35%

2001

155.5

-21.3

-12.05%

2002

139.4

-16.1

-10.35%

2003

126.6

-12.8

-9.18%

2004

120.8

-5.8

-4.58%

2005

113.9

-6.9

-5.71%

2006

106.1

-7.8

-6.85%

2007

101.0

-5.1

-4.81%

2008

95.6

-5.4

-5.35%

2009

81.6

-14.0

-14.64%

2010

76.3

-5.3

-6.50%

2011

75.7

-0.6

-0.79%

2012

76.3

0.6

0.79%

2013

76.3

0.0

0.00%

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job figures are annual totals.

This data analysis was researched and written by Jonathan Bowles and Stephanie Chan. Design by Ahmad Dowla.

General operating support for Center for an Urban Fu­ture has been provided by the Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation and Fund for the City of New York.